1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric cooking apparatus, and more particularly to an electric cooking apparatus having a close electric contact relationship.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional electric cooking apparatus in accordance with the prior art was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,365,878-B1 and comprises a heating coil (32), an oil tank (14) for cooking food, and a housing (12), in which the heating coil (32) is in a heat-transferable relationship with the oil tank (14), and the apparatus (10, 200) is adapted to be in an operable state when at least part of the heating coil (32) is received within the housing (12). The electric frying apparatus (10, 200) also includes a frying basket (16) for supporting the food for frying within the oil tank (14), in which the basket (16) is releasably engageable with the housing (12), and the basket (16) includes a protruding part (82) for securing the basket (16) against movement relative to the housing (12). The electric frying apparatus (200) also includes a temperature sensor connected with a liquid crystal display (LCD) 202. The temperature sensor senses the temperature within the oil tank (14) and such a temperature is visually displayed by the LCD (202).
A conventional electric frying pot in accordance with the prior art was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,499,390-B1 and comprises an outer pot body, and an inner pot. The outer pot body is provided with plural support members and a socket on its bottom base having a micro-switch fixed under to connect the socket. The socket has two notches and an inserting groove on top and a sliding cover inside, a ring electric-heating tube fixed at the bottom of the inner pot, having two thirds embedded therein and two pins protruding at two opposite ends, with an actuating rod longer then the pins fixed between. Thus, when the inner pot is placed in the outer pot body, the actuating rod pushes the sliding cover to move away to let the actuating rod and the pins respectively inserting in the inserting grooves and the notches synchronously with the bottom of the inner pot pressing the lug of the micro-switch to turn on power.
A conventional protective device for a power supply of a frying pan in accordance with the prior art was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,341,555-B1 and comprises a control lever disposed by side of a plurality of heat-source terminals; a power-supply unit laid on a base, having a power-supply chamber and a slot partitioned inside; a protective shield disposed on an inner top face of the power-supply unit, wherein a resilient device is disposed at a rear end of the protective shield to push the latter forward. When the frying pan is out of use, the protective shield is operated to cover an opening of the power-supply chamber, or when the frying pan is put to use, a user is supposed to place a pan casing on the base, then plug the control lever in the slot to push the protective shield backward to thereby open the opening of the power-supply chamber and allow the heat-source terminals to enter a power-supply jack and turn the power on.
A conventional electrical cooking appliance, notably a fryer, in accordance with the prior art was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,225,605-B1 and comprises a case (1) forming a housing (2) provided to receive a removable bowl (3), the bowl having lateral walls (4) and a base (5) under which is fixed a shielded heating element (6) having two extremities (7) each terminated by a connection terminal (8). An electric connector (10) is mounted in the case (1), the connector having electrical contacts (12) disposed opposite openings (11) provided to receive the terminals (8) of the shielded heating element (6), during introduction of the bowl (3) into the housing (2). The connector (10) is mounted to be movable in lateral translation relative to the base of the case (1) and the openings (11) have bevel edges (13) provided to guide the terminals (8) of the heating element (6) toward the electrical contacts (12).
However, in the above-mentioned prior art references, when the conducting terminals of the heating element are inserted into the socket to contact with the electrical contacts of the socket, the conducting terminals of the heating element are in loose contact with the electrical contacts of the socket under the condition without application of any external force. The electrical contacts of the socket are often made of metallic elastic conducting plates, so that the conducting terminals of the heating element are in contact with the electrical contacts of the socket stably by elasticity of the electrical contacts. Thus, the conducting terminals of the heating element are easily loosened from the electrical contacts of the socket due to an elastic fatigue of the electrical contacts during a long-term utilization, so that the conducting terminals of the heating element are in poor contact with the electrical contacts of the socket, thereby decreasing the electric conducting and heating effect of the electric heating member.